I'm director of the Reynolds Center for Business Journalism at the Cronkite School at Arizona State. I'm also author of the Forbes eBook Curbing Cars: America's Independence From The Auto Industry. I was Detroit bureau chief for the New York Times, and led Changing Gears, a public media project that studied the industrial Midwest. E: vmaynard@umich.edu T @mickimaynard @curbingcars

GM Marketing Chief, Who Quit Facebook Ads, Is Out

You know the old saying, “go big, or go home.” General Motors‘ advertising chief Joel Ewanick made some bold moves in his short tenure, such as severing ad ties with Facebook right before it went public. Now he’s out.

GM announced this evening that Ewanick, 52, had “elected to resign effective immediately.” News of his ouster came earlier in the afternoon, when The Wall Street Journal, Automotive News and the Detroit News were among those reporting Ewanick’s departure, citing sources.

GM did not state any apparent reason why the move was made, the latest shakeup under GM CEO Dan Akerson. Last week, Dave Lyon, who designed the Chevrolet Volt interior and was set to lead GM’s European design operations, left the carmaker, too.

But the Journal reported that GM told Ewanick “he was being removed for failing to properly vet the financial details of a European soccer sponsorship deal that he struck recently,” according to people it said were familiar with the matter. In March, GM announced a five-year deal to sponsor the world’s wealthiest soccer team, Manchester United, and it subsequently struck a deal for Chevrolet to sponsor Liverpool’s soccer squad.

Ewanick re-tweeted the Journal story, after his own tweet, which read, ”It has been a privilege and honor to work with the GM team and to be a small part of Detroit‘s turnaround. I wish everyone at GM all the best.”

GM said Alan Batey, vice president of U.S. and service, would become global marketing officer on an interim basis.

Ewanick was only at GM for two years, and just became chief marketing officer in December 2010. His main task was to create a new image for the car company that would transcend its reputation as Government Motors, gained because of the federal bailout the company took in 2009.

His departure means GM will be shopping for a permanent marketing chief at a critical time for the company. GM has lost the small market share gain it made in 2010, after it emerged from the managed bankruptcy led by the Obama administration. It also has battled to keep the image of the Chevrolet Volt from being dragged into political debate.

Ewanick may be best remembered for GM’s decision to pull the plug on Facebook advertising right before Facebook’s initial public offering. Though GM maintains a series of Facebook pages for its brands, the move was viewed as skepticism on GM’s part over the effectiveness of Facebook ads. Since then, however, GM has said it plans to return to Facebook ads.

In another ad move, Ewanick said GM would not be advertising on the 2013 Super Bowl, where Chrysler has had a dynamic presence the past two years. According to Automotive News, that announcement and the Facebook step caught many people at GM off guard, and Ewanick later said he regretted how the news came out.

Meanwhile, GM and Ford got into a spat over a Chevrolet ad during the 2012 Super Bowl that showed the Silverado pickup surviving the Apocalypse, inferring that the Ford F-series was not Ford Tough enough to get through it. When Ford threatened to sue, GM went public with the dispute and didn’t back down. “We can wait until the world ends, and if we need to, we will apologize,” Ewanick said, according to the Detroit News.

This weekend GM kicked off the advertising campaign for the new Cadillac ATS during the 2012 Olympic Games. The ad barrage began during Friday night’s telecast of the opening ceremonies and continued Saturday and Sunday.

Automotive News said Ewanick recently led a massive consolidation of the external marketing and advertising agencies that work with GM. Last spring, he moved the account for Chevrolet’s creative work from dozens of agencies globally to just one firm, Commonwealth of Detroit.

He also put all of GM’s media buying duties under London-based Aegis’ Carat unit, ending its work with dozens of smaller agencies. Combined, those moves are expected to save GM $2 billion over five years, the company has said, according to Automotive News.

Beyond GM, Ewanick may be best known in the auto industry for his work at Hyundai, where he repositioned the company from a maker of entry level, low-priced cars to a mass market company focused on fuel economy as well as value.

One of his most successful campaigns, according to Jalopnik, was Hyundai Assurance. The program allowed buyers who lost their jobs to return their vehicles without any penalty. Hyundai Assurance was one reason why the Korean carmaker was able to hang onto, and then grow its market share in the worst car market in recent decades. Ewanick spent a brief stint at Nissan before being hired from there at GM.

On his Twitter page, Ewanick calls himself a “Starbucks junkie” and Boston Red Sox fan who is “fast falling in love with my new home in Detroit.” Presumably, he will be putting a for sale sign out front now.

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To be fair to Ewanick, GM’s loss of market share (along with Ford) comes mostly as Honda and Toyota sales bounce back after the recalls and the supply issues that hurt them last year after the earthquake and tsunami. I think most people in the industry warned that the drop in sales to Japanese makers wouldn’t last.

To be fair to Ewanick, GM’s loss of market share (along with Ford’s) comes mostly as Honda and Toyota sales bounce back after the recalls and the supply issues that hurt them last year after the earthquake and tsunami. I think most people in the industry warned that the drop in sales to Japanese makers wouldn’t last.

GM seems a mess. Shopping for a luxury SUV and visited BMW, Land Rover, Mercedes and Cadillac earlier this month. BMW, Land Rover and Mercedes were welcoming and offered brochures. Looked at the 2013 Escalade and dealer said no brochures out yet, though they won’t be ordering any. Went on to Cadillac site and no information on the 2013 models despite the fact they are on dealer lots and “for sale”. What really made me wonder was the response when I called Cadillac marketing. They said no brochures are available and they don’t know when they will have them. I feel that GM has turned into a factory-focused, government supported entity. Little wonder their sales are down. Looked at the management and board of directors and see little evidence of anyone with customer orientation. Not surprised their results are down, these folks deserve to fail. They’ve earned the right.